Not beach people what would you do?

[hbooden]

So we are booked on our first cruise -the 12 night on the gem in December. We booked a cruise for a bunch of reasons but one definitely being that we are not the types to sit on the beach all day!

 

So my questions are what do you do in ports? We are heading to Barbados, st Thomas, st Maarten, st Lucia, San Juan and one I forget:) I know I can ask specifics on the boards for each port but just wanted some general ideas do you shop? Eat? Beach? Tours?

 

 

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[champagne123]

I have tons of ideas....but the best thing for you to do, is to go to PORTS OF CALLS.

 

Each Island/port will give you a lot of wonderful ideas.

[garycarla]

I think you will find that many (maybe even most) do not go to the beaches.

 

Local tours, walk, hike, shop, eat, drink are some of the options. Looking at all the cruises we have been on, I would say we do the beach less than 20% of the time, maybe less.

[danh78]

Been to St. Maarten and St. Thomas twice.

 

In St. Maarten, we've eaten at the Blue Bitch both times. Good food, fair prices, right on the beach so there's good people watching.

 

In St. Thomas this year we took the Skyride up to Paradise Point, which was pretty fun. Last year we did a snorkel trip which was great.

[hbooden]

Oh and it is just my husband and I! Ditching our kids with my parents to celebrate our 10 year anniversary ;)

 

 

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[russianmom]

In San Juan you can walk around Old San Juan, tour one or both forts, take a trip to the rain forest.

[dalgirl]

Rent a car and spend the day seeing the islands - or take a tour. Shop, eat, and take a few minutes to walk on the beach, get your feet wet and take some wonderful photos. There are lots of things to do without sitting on the beach all day.

[youngestof9]

do you snorkel? If so, I suggest Fury Charters in St. Thomas. We had a great day there.

 

http://www.usvisailing.com/

 

If you like tours, in St. Lucia, we toured using Cosol, which is often recommended on the St. Lucia board. So glad we did it - we saw so much of the island and really got a feel for it.

 

http://cosol-tours.com/

 

In St. Maarten, we usually beach, but this time used Bernard for a tour (also recommended through the St. Maarten ports of call board here on CC )

 

http://www.bernardstours.com/

 

In general, I'm not a "tour" person, but glad we did both Bernard and Cosol - with Cosol we really saw so much of St. Lucia - got a little taste of all of it - St. Lucia has SO much - rainforests, volcano, beach. With Bernard, we had my MIL with us, so mobility was more of an issue so it was nice to have a tour - it was a little beach time, but we saw a bunch of stuff we wouldn't have normally done, because we usually just go to the beach.

 

Have fun!

[Starry Eyes]

We do not spend much time at the beach, either.

In Barbados, we took the ship excursion of caves plus island tour...we could have done the caves on our own, but really enjoyed the ease of the excursion...our guide was great fun. And his rum punch was mighty tasty:).

[Barb Nahoumi]

You could try Maho Beach to watch planes up close.

[geegee1]

Oh and it is just my husband and I! Ditching our kids with my parents to celebrate our 10 year anniversary ;)

 

 

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We did that for our 10th as well, but we only got 4 days. Good for you.

We like to go to Coconut's Bar & Grill in St Thomas. It's never too crowded with the touristy crowd which is why we like it. You can google them to find out more

Edited January 24, 2014 by geegee1

[HarpHarp]

I lived in St. Thomas & if I didn't want to spend the day on the beach, I'd take an island tour, there are also some museums in Charlotte Amalie including the Pissarro gallery, Tillet Gradens & Fort Christian. Coral World & the Botanical Gardens are also interesting. Or course it is a shopping mecca.

 

San Juan is wonderful. You can visit the forts & walk around Old San Juan. The rain forest, El Yunque, is worth a visit, Or maybe you would like to go to Arecibo & se the huge telscope array. Oh I didn't mention the Bacardi factory:D

[spidybabe]

We not beach people either!!

San Juan -walk around, tour the forts. CVS nearby. Or, if enough time DIY tour to Bacardi. Good liquor prices at pier...best at outlet store, but you gotta like what they have.

St Thomas - Godfrey tours. Did it last week and is GREAT. Very reasonably priced. Shopping across from pier Cruzan rum tasting stand-just tip and taste away best price for Cruzan

St Maarten -water taxi to town. beaches, boardwalk, restaurants/bars, one block down shopping, best liquor prices. We also did tour from ship. See and sea. It was a "semi-sub" and tour to the French side. Very enjoyable

Safe sailing

 

 

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Edited January 24, 2014 by spidybabe

[homeschoolmama]

I agree with things mentioned above. However, If you like to get out in nature a bit, and have not been to Puert Rico, then you may want to consider the rain forest tour. You will see a bit more of the country and some ships stay til 9 or 10 at night so you could still take in old san juan. In Barbados we did a photograohy tour which was fabulous. Small group, went many places normal tour groups don't go. You don't need to be professional in any way, can even go with disposable cameras.

In St Thomas the tram is a fun thing to do and you get some lovely views. Also very easy to negotiate a van to take a few people on a private tour. We have done that for 15 dollars for 3 hours.

Must be a little more careful in St Lucia if interested in arranging a private tour, but the ship offers some lovely half day trips which let you see alot of the island. Traffic is a bit of a pain in st maarten, so I agree that the water taxi ( which is cheap and right off the ship) is wonderful. The town is very walkable, many shops and eateries, and you might just find yourself wanting to take a quick dip in the ocean from the beautiful beach that skirts the town :)

 

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[hbooden]

I love it! Thank you all so much!!!

 

And yes to the person (sorry I forgot your name) who also did the cruise with no kids for their 10 year...we were booked on a 9 day which was a stretch...but they changed it to 12 days and my parents were nice enough to agree:)

 

Can't wait and I have a bit of time:) but with this cold weather I keep planning!!!!

 

 

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